When Marcus Grumbles saw his name at the top of the leader board after the final round of the 52nd J.P. Traynham it ended five years of frustration  for Grumbles and also made some history.

Grumbles, the 2009 SCGA Mid-Am Champion, by his own admission, has spent the last few years “not playing very good golf.”

“I just lost it and it didn’t matter what I tried, I could not find it and the last five years have been miserable,” he said.

When Grumbles talks about losing it, he is talking about a different level of play.

He was still able to win two more club championships at Paris Mountain, but success in bigger events and state competitions had eluded him.

“I have to thank Yancy Johnson for helping me get back playing well. We were in a four ball match and he gave me a tip that worked,” he said.

Johnson, who has played with Grumbles over the years noticed his swing had gotten too steep.

“Yancey thought if I flatten out my swing I might do better. I worked on it for a long time and it is finally starting to come around,” he said.

Grumbles  shot a 2-under par 70 in the opening round and shared the lead with Henry Hall, a high school golfer from St. Joseph’s.

“My biggest problem was getting off the tee, I could miss fairways, sometimes two at a time, but I drove the ball pretty good here,”he said.

The second round was in jeopardy from a bad weather forecast and when Grumbles got started he wanted to see if he could get the lead in case the weather became an issue.

“I shot a 3-under par on the front. The weather never became a problem, but it was pretty windy on the back and I finished with a 2-under 70 again”’ he said.

The 4-under par 140 was good enough for a 1shot victory over James Scott, who had the low round in the tournament with a 3-under par 69.

After checking the record book Paris Mountain’s Lloyd Nelson let Grumbles know his win  in 2023 to go along with three others had tied him with some legendary golfers for most wins in the oldest invitational event in the Upstate.

Grumbles tied SCGA Hall of Fame member Dillard Traynham and 6-time Greenville County champion Mike Gravley for most wins in the event.

“I’m pretty happy I won and then to find out I  tied those two great golfers makes me fell even better about the win,” he said.

Last year’s Traynham champion Adam Black finished in third with first round co leader Hall,  Gregg Moore and J.P. Ferguson all tied for fourth.

Johnny League, a 3-time winner of the Traynham earned his first victory in the Senior Traynham.

League topped last years senior champ Ron Clontz on the first playoff hole for the Senior win.

JP Traynham Flight winners : First – Cole Paterson, Second – Mike Hartin, Third -Erik Martin, Senior First – Cary Sanders, Second  -Whitney Grumbles.